Man wanted in Macon shooting found dead in Starkville home

A Starkville man wanted for a shooting in Macon Tuesday night was found dead in the home of his estranged wife Wednesday afternoon of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

The Starkville Police Department and Macon Police Department had been searching for 45-year-old Willie James Young since the Tuesday night incident in Macon, where he allegedly shot 19-year-old Syperia Dickerson at a home on Dickerson Street. Young once dated Dickerson''s mother, SPD Sgt. Chadd Garnett said.

The shooting came after a confrontation at the home. Young was spotted leaving the scene in a Lincoln Navigator, which was spotted later that night at the Brookville Gardens apartment complex in Starkville, not far from his estranged wife''s house at 430 N. Long St.

Young''s estranged wife, whom police have not identified, heard about the shooting in Macon and had left her home, Garnett said. She then showed up at the Starkville Police Department Wednesday afternoon and asked for an officer to go with her to her home so she could pick up some clothes, Garnett said.

"She didn''t know if (Young) was going to try to come back to the house or not," Garnett said. "She did it for her safety."

Because police considered Young armed and dangerous, the SPD activated its SWAT team. The SWAT team entered the home Wednesday at about 4:10 p.m. and discovered Young in a back bedroom, dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, Garnett said. Police believe Young killed himself late Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning.